install thread
 

subscribe here if you want to see my full install. here is the start. the car is a bone stock 2002 protege 5 except for the carbon fiber grill and stainless shiftball. here is the car. and the aftermarket parts. i will show some install pics as these things get installed, but i am waiting for motor mounts and exhaust wrap.



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that is an AEM cai with a dryflo filter, OBX header, stiff shift bushings (can't remember the brand), MSP short shifter, and platinum +4 spark plugs.

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your new car... you smashed up your other one right?

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yeah, the old one met it's final demise when a lady ran a red light while i was doing 40. there was no chance of me stopping.

but this is the new one. the wife kind of forced me into getting it in white and it has grown on me. i will mod this one for the next year or two until the new rx-7 comes out, then she can have a heavily modded white pro5.

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k if that was my car i would have cried. as for the mods.. better not to do them till spring time.. because judging from your picture you live in a place wehre there is snow. which is why you should put mods on in the spring. because if you get alot of snow there is really no point in it.. but i bet that your car will look good after all that. that and be faster..

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i was on the verge of tears for DAYS after it happened. i think the only thing that kept me from breaking down and crying is the pain medication that i was on afterwards. i am in houston texas where you can go out on your front porch christmas day in flip-flops and shortsso the weather doesn't effect my installs much. in the spring i am planning on putting a carbon fiber hood and spoiler, both OEM style, and getting it painted to match the 2007 rx-8 white. i think i may rip off the roof rails and paint the top black to match the hood and spoiler.

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i think it will look good if u take the roof rail off and paint roof black. i wanna do that to my 00 sedan with carbon fiber hood and trunk

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yeah, that is the only reason that i would like to have a sedan. they don't make an actual, full-framed carbon fiber hatch for my car. if they did, i know they could sell the hell out of it.

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Not only because I own a white 3 do I say this, but I think P5's in white are soooo Hawt!!
Red ones (w/CF hoods) too.

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thanks. i got the windows tinted this weekend and i will have to put up pics when i do the install.

does anyone want me to do writed ups on any of my work? i know a lot of people have problems with motor mounts on these cars, so i think that i will do a photographed write-up on that, but does anyone need one on the header, intake, shifter, or shift bushings?

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I'm just starting to think about mod's to my 03 and one of the first things on my list is the air intake. I'd like to see what you do to yours. pic's and notes on complications would be great.

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cool. this is my second time through with the same car, so i know the engine compartment well and i know what to look for as far as complications. i will try to highlight the parts that i had the biggest trouble with the first and second time through.

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What kind of HP gains do you expect from the cai,headers and exhaust?

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i appreciate the feedback wsoap281. Look forward to seeing more.

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i am only betting on about 15-20 to the wheels, but these parts are just kind of the base for all of the other work that i am planning. the most significant gains that i will probably feel are gains in the feel of the car instead of horsepower. the motor mounts will help me feel it all more.

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got the intake installed tonight. mostly just hear the gains instead of feel them. i have some gains in the middle of the power band. the install was simple, it was the break-down that took forever(pics up later). the good news is that the heat wrap came today. the bad news is that i didn't order enough and the motor mounts didn't come today like they were supposed to.

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Update:

got the motor mounts today, but one of them is incomplete. so, that means yet another minor set-back. still haven't gotten the rest of the parts for my shifter, but those should be here this week. i needed a win though, so i installed a couple of things that have been sitting around my house for a couple of weeks: aluminum gauge rings and smoked rockblockers for my foglights. the pics are at night, so they aren't incredible, but you get the idea.

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besides the heat shield, what else is required that doesn't come with the cai?

Look forward to seeing the pics.

Thanks

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the heat wrap is for the exhaust,but you can get wraps for the intake from DEI. i may do that, but that will only be if i feel like it's needed. i will get some pics up tonight of the engine bay and a short write-up on the install of the intake. i got my shifter parts today, so i will try to get that written up tonight as well.

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good news is; i have some pics for a write up on the shifter and shift bushings. bad news is; my cameras batteries died before i could finish taking pics, so not all of the pics are there. i think there are enough pics for the write-up to make sense though.

Here goes:
1. First, the center console must be disassembled (pic one). the order of this disassembly is; shift knob, cupholders, then shift boot (if it is the stock shift boot, you will have to disconnect it from the center console). i also removed the e-brake base, but you don't have to.
2. second, the car needs to be jacked up. i did this from one side under the lower control arm and just left it on the jack. you can put it up on stands or ramps if you like, but it isn't necessary.
3. third, locate the places underneath the car that you will need to focus on. the shifter linkage is easy to find, since it is directly under the shifter. (pic two). the shifter bushings are a little harder to find. they are more towards the front of the car (pic three). these bushings are not actually on the same linkage as the shifter. they are on the bar the stabilizes the shifter base. if you follow the bar that is directly next to the shift linkage, you will find it towards the front of the car.

now, with the right tools, you are ready to work. tools as follows; rings clamps (pic four), flat head screw driver, 10mm, 12mm, and 17mm open ended wrenches. the last tool is patience. this work isn't time consuming, it is just frustrating sometimes.

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pics

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now, for the work.

1. first, you will need to start on the shifter. this, i believe, has a 10mm bolt going through the bottom of it. just pull that and let the linkage fall (it won't fall far).
2. second, you will need to pull the shifter out from inside the car. this requires the ring puller that i mentioned earlier and pictured in this post. this requires a lot of patience. set the pullers where they squeeze together when you squeeze the handles together. put the ends in the holes in the rings and squeeze it together while pulling gently. will probably take a few tries. once that is off, you can just pullthe shifter and all of it's parts out of the car. set that aside, because, most shifters will need the two white parts that are on it. my former one didn't, so i threw these parts out and had to wait for a few weeks for another set to be sent to me.
3. third, you will want to pull the stock shift bushing. i know, you were expecting me to say drop in the new shifter. there is a method to my madness here; we all need a win every now and then to keep us going, so, if you disassemble completely first, then reassemble with all of the new parts, it keeps you moving and you feel like you are getting more accomplished. anyways, back to the work itself. the bushing is pretty tough to get out, but it is possible, so patience is the key. you will need to pull the nut that is holding the bushing on and slide the whole thing over (will take a little bit of persuasion). once it is off of the bolt, there is a metal sleeve inside of that bushing. the bushing will not come out unless you pull this sleeve (set aside because you may have to reuse it). after the sleeve is out, you can pull the bushing out by pushing it with a flat head screwdriver (requires some persuasion). with that out of the way, you are disassembled for these two things.

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assembly

1. first, the shifter. if you have a drop-in type shifter like the one posted at the bottom, you can just drop the shifter in and seal it up with some high-temp silicone. if you have the ball-type like the stock one, you will need to reuse the two white plastic pieces that are on your stock shifter. these come off with a little persuasion and you can re-lube them with some lithium grease or something thick and synthetic. i prefer synthetic because it doesn't break down the same way that dino grease does. after these are on their respective places, you can drop the shifter in carefully. make sure that it bottoms out in the hole all of the way and is leaning towards the rear of the car. then comes the ring (if you have the stock type). patience, patience. i have used these ring tools a hundred times and still can't get them right the first time. the ring needs to sit back in the channel the way that it did with the stock shifter (also posted at the bottom).
2. second, you need to move back under the car. you will need to put the two little plastic pieces that are in the base of the stock shifter (where it meets the linkage in pic 2 of previous post) in the new shifter in the same position. then, you just butt the linkage back up to the bottom of the shifter and put the bolt back through it. when you tighten the nut back down, you don't have to tighten it down really tight, just snug. shifter is installed now.
3. third, move to the front of the car where the shift bushings will go. drop the shift bushings in, one side at a time, and slide the sleeve into them (provided that the new bushings don't replace this sleeve). next, slide the linkage back onto the bolt that it was on and make sure that both of the side washers are back on it before tightening down the nut. here, it requires some persuasion and remember that most of the shift bushings that you buy will only replace the stock bushing and not any other parts, so don't throw anything out.

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now, you are finished up. the result is a shifter that is shorter due to shifter height and throw and a shift that is clean and easy due to the new bushings. in my case, my shift height is the same because i already had a megan short shifter installed. i wanted to change though because my wife drives the car more than i do and the megan was too heavy of a shift for her. i liked it though. oh well, just more parts laying around my garage. that was my shifter-work write-up. hope that you all benefit from it and don't feel that it is too long. i just wanted to make sure that i got every detail.

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i'm looking at installing a short shifter to my 2000 DX protege...what brand of short shifter do you advise?

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shifters are all up to the driver. if you like a heavy, solidshift, i would recommend something like a megan or twm. if you like the light feeling of a stock shifter, i recommend a mazdaspeed protege shifter like what i installed on mine. whatever you do, just remember that you need a heavy shift ball to balance the shorter throw. that is where the higher price tag comes in.

as for feel with me, i liked the megan shifter that i had, but i very seldomly drive my car anymore and my wife hated the feel of it, so i needed to put something in that had a lighter throw. if you like a heavy throw shifter, i may sell my megan. the height isn't a whole lot different (about 1 1/2 inches), but the throw is way shorter. a megan with the ball usually goes for about $100, but i am keeping the ball off of this one, so i could let it go for $35 + shipping. you need to figure out whether or not you will like it though before you buy.

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bump. last weekend, i installed one of my headers and a high flow mid-pipe. i still haven't done the motor mounts because i haven't bothered with finding the front mount. i will run through the header installation and heat-wrapping process when i heat wrap my other header and install it.

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long overdue, but here is a recent engine compartment shot. the header isn't very well wrapped, so that is why i am putting my other header on when i finish wrapping it. i will give another shot then. i will also have to get a shot from underneath to show the mid-pipe and bushings.

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i no this was posted some time ago but iv been reading thru it and was wondering where the pics were. wouls really appreciate it if you would post them. im new in the game so dont really no wat to look for. thanks

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****, nevermind, pics just popped up now. thaks tho

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my newest mazda mod...



another mazda. here he/she is (can't figure out whether it's my second girlfriend or my new buddy).


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haven't updated here in a while. i have a couple of things to post up here.

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here are a couple of updates.
i blacked out the badges by stripping the chrome off of them down to the plastic and painting them with a plastic-bonding black paint and a high-temp clear coat. they have been painted for a couple of months and are holding strong. ignore the fact that the car needs to be washed.
i bought a set of 17x7 racinghart rims off of a 2001 mazda mp3. i stripped them down to aluminum and painted them carbon grey. the outcome was really nice and the paint is holding really strong, even a couple of months later.
pulled the heat wrap off of the header to re-wrap it but just haven't done it yet.
i also have a set of tail light tints that i need to install. i keep putting it off until i will finally pay someone to do them.


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i also got a shorty antenna some time in there. just realized that i hadn't posted that up. it is visible in the top pic.

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WOW!!! That looks COOL, Wes!!! Gotta LOOVVVEEEE the white ones. 'Course I'm not prejudged or anything. :D:D:D

Now, get them calpers painted!!! May I suggest... blue? Blue is a nice color.
Red is over cooked... over-done.


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i have been considering caliper paint, but i am not sure what color i want. like you said, a couple of colors are played out. i like the blue on 3's, but i don't know if it will look right on my p5. i will photochop a little and see what i come up with. think i might go black with the mazda logo on them. have decided not to go very much further with the car (no turbo, just another turbo car that i will debut later), but little touches here and there will be done.

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Love your P5, Wes. I've got one in the back of my mind for a few years down the road. Shame there wasn't a Mazdaspeed P5.

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thanks and yes i would have loved to have seen an msp5. since i got the rx7, i have come to love RWD a lot. i also like AWD, but you can have a lot more fun in a RWD car. i have just come to realize that i can only make the p5 fun and not ridiculously fast. the p5 had traction issues that can be resolved, but make the car a lot less streetable.

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Well, considering Mazda and Ford's ties at the time...perhaps the Focus and Protege shared some bits? I know the Focus was pretty unbalanced, which caused some entertaining lift-off oversteer.

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the main thing is that the p5 came dripping with understeer and wheel hop. solution is solid motor mounts, beefy sway bars, and urethane bushings. at that point, the whole car shakes at a stop light due to the solid motor mounts, the rear end breaks loose in bad weather, and the bushings creak on cornering. the motor is a nice start, though. it is under powered stock, but that just means that you can squeeze that much more power out of it with tuning.

the focus ended up with just a few of the p5's parts. because of it's shape, the suspension sits higher (hence the oversteer and body roll) and it is just all around ugly. the 2.0 is the same though. it only changes the intake manifold from ford to mazda. (ford's is plastic)